After that happened, we all went for a nice walk to the town. Naruto and Idate went forward as they did not stop arguing. Sakura and I were watching what the shops were selling while Sasuke seemed to be on guard and he was watching everything carefully. I looked at Sakura and saw that she had judging look, probably because of how high the prices were.
"I know what you two are thinking, too expensive" an old woman, possibly the owner of the stand, said.
"Well-" I tried to say but Sakura elbowed me in the ribs.
"Oh, no! I…" she tried to say but she could not find the right words.
"Believe me, I do not like to charge that much but the Wagarashi family sets the prices-" the woman explained but stopped when a loud noise of something crashing got our attention.
Sasuke, Sakura and I quickly left the stands and ran towards the source of the sound. There, in the middle of the street, a man was down at the ground, three other men were shadowing him, and from their aura and their looks, it was obvious that they were not friendly.
"I am sorry, I am sorry!" the man on the ground repeated in fear.
"What's wrong with you? When we want something we take it, you got it. You wouldn't be in business if it weren't for the Wagarashi" the middle one said.
"I know, I know! It's just… to take it without paying for it…"
"You really are not getting this are you?" the middle one, said as he cracked his knuckles.
"You are right!" the two other men said and headed towards his shop.
"No! No, please!" the man said as he managed to stand up but the moment he went to take a step, one of the three bad guys grabbed him from his shirt.
"I will make it easy for you to understand!" he said and went to punch him. However, his fist was stopped as Sasuke caught it with ease.
"What the… who are you?" he asked.
"Why don't you and your friends take a hike?" Sasuke said and the two other men turned and glared at him.
"Get him out of here, those are the Wagarashi's men!" the woman said, showing the same fear as the man.
"Do not worry" Sakura reassured her.
"Yeah, if there is one person that you should never underestimate is Sasuke" I added.
"You asked for it," the same man said and brought his other fist in order to punch Sasuke.
The woman hid her face behind her hands while Sakura and I were smirking as Sasuke started to beat the hell out of them.
"You do not act so tough now huh kid," the one on the right said.
"That will teach you a thing or two you little brat," the other man said but I simply smiled at their faces.
The one on the right had a black eye and a swallowed cheek. The other one had bruised face and blood was coming from the tip of his mouth. Lastly, the middle one who tried to punch Sasuke was unconscious and badly bitten. The two men knelt and grabbed their unconscious friend while they were trying to act tough.
"Do not mess with us or next time you will not get away with it so easy?" the man with the black eye said and tossed the money back to the owner of the shop.
I looked at Sasuke who smirked and cracked his knuckles. They froze and seconds later, they started to run as fast as they could.
Not so tough now huh? I thought and enjoyed the moment, never liking bullies for well...personal reasons.
If Sasuke hadn't interfered, I would definitely have. And if it wasn't Sasuke fighting, I would have joined. However, I knew my teammate good enough to know that he wanted to take this solo and enjoy the beating.
"Young man," the bullied owner said and draw Sasuke's attention. "Thank you, whoever you are"
"Just look at those men run," the woman owner said as she, Sakura and I walked towards the two of them. "Now, only if the Wasabi family could win the race we would be rid of them for good"
Night came rather quickly and it was the time for the race to begin. We were all at the harbour from where the race would begin and all the villagers had come to celebrate and see the participants. Fireworks were shot at the sky and they were painting it with a variety of colours from green, to red and even orange and were standing behind the two runners, one was Idate and the other one was a man from the Wagarashi family
"Wow, I had no idea it was such a big deal. So what kind of race is it anyway?" Naruto, who was between Sakura and Me, asked.
"You know the kind of a start to finish. Listen carefully and I will explain. The starting point is here at the harbour of Deigarashi. From here, the runners head to Todoroki shrine, that's the midway" Sakura explained.
"They run over water?"
"Eh… no Naruto. The first part of the rave is done by boat. Anyway, the runners pick up the jewels and the first to bring them to the Great Todoroki shrine wins. That's it as far as the basic rules go but other than that, just about anything goes… shortcuts, dirty tricks anything"
"That is why hiring Ninja is okay too" Sasuke added.
"And that is why we are here Naru. To make sure that is going to be a fair race" I said and placed my hand on his shoulder.
"Okay, so where are the ninja the other side hired?"
"They are keeping a low profile but they are around. So watch your step, okay Naruto?" Sakura reminded him.
"Yeah, yeah"
"I do not care what you guys do but whatever happens, just stay away from me," Idate said and sent us a glare.
"Say what?" Naru questioned.
"I have a race to run, I do not want you in my way," he said and an anime vein popped on my forehead.
"You-" Naru shouted and tried to attack him but Sakura and I held him back.
"Calm down Naruto. Can't we all just work together?" Sakura asked.
"No way, not with him!" they both shouted in sync and then folded their hands in front of their chest.
Well, you already talk and act pretty much the same so it shouldn't be a problem, I thought.
"Attention, attention! The great Todoroki shrine race is about to begin! Running for the Wasabi, Idate Morino", a man said through the speaker and everyone cheered for Idate. "Running for the Wagarashi Family, Fukusuke Hikyakuya", the speaker said and again almost everyone cheered. "Runners, take your place! … Go!" he said and the two runners begin running towards the harbour and into the boats.
"This means we better get going too… What the!" Naru said and our eyes widened as we all noticed that Idate was running the opposite way. Instead of going straight and into the boat, he turned.
"What's that idiot doing?" Sasuke asked as we all ran behind him.
"Idate, were are you going?" Sakura asked.
"Are you crazy?" I questioned him but he ignored me.
"Hey! You are going the wrong way! Have you gone crazy or what?!",
Naru shouted but he simply ignored us and continued running and man, he was fast.